Bringing it Home:

1. Bringing it Home: Follow-Up Courses for Study Abroad Returnees

2. Presenters • Elaine Meyer-Lee, Saint Mary’s College • Margit Johnson, Carleton College • Greg Downey, University of Notre Dame • All of you!

3. Why such courses? • Much effort has gone into study abroad programs, often with impressive results • Historically support for re-entry was extracurricular programming aimed at alleviating reverse culture shock • Recent awareness of the additional need for academic contexts to consolidate and integrate learning

4. Why this session? • While the overarching goals of such courses may be similar, faculty are approaching this relatively uncharted terrain from various disciplines and pedagogical strategies • Many institutions are interested in implementing such courses and much is to be gained from pooling experiences

5. Your turn • Additional ideas for such courses: (other theoretical frameworks or assessments, other exercises, readings, etc.) • Open Questions and answers • Small groups on how some ideas might be applied in your context • Last thoughts or questions

6. Saint Mary’s College ICS 490: Analysis of Study Abroad Learning Elaine Meyer-Lee

7. Main Objectives • Articulating impact of sojourn through reflection, exercises, writing • Qualitative analysis of this writing • Quantitative self-assessment • Review of existing theory & research • Bringing our data into dialogue • Making connections with intercultural relating here, broader education, career plans

8. Articulating the impact • Much reflective writing (moving to 2 credits this fall) • Mini-poetry workshop • Partner interviews • Preliminary theorizing • Final reflection on additional impact of course

9. Qualitative Analyses/Interpretation • for content on effects • overall themes and differences • program-specific sources of variation such as length, country, language, model • person-specific sources such as previous experience, college, affective reaction • Specific to US students, or to abroad

10. Quantitative Assessment/Theory • Identity Development (Erikson, Marcia, Phinney: Phinney’s Multi-Ethic Identity Measure, as US + retrospective) • Experiential Learning (J. Bennett, Kolb: Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory) • Intellectual/Intercultural Development (Perry, M. Bennett: Bennett’s Intercultural Development Inventory)

11. Dialogue with the literature • Reading Kauffmann review • Locating and reading recent articles • Comparing our data with theirs (for example, more focus on personal) • Bringing our data into conversation with existing theories: both using theory to illuminate, but also using data to challenge or build

12. Connections with domestic intercultural experience • Individual forays into cultural contexts where they’d be in minority (Latino church, Mosque, community meeting in predominantly African-American neighborhood) • Reflecting on experience: how was it like and unlike study abroad? How was it like and unlike similar experiences before studying abroad? • Huge challenge

13. Connections to broader education at SMC, career plans • Experiential vs. traditional • More independent pedagogy • Pace and quantity more intense • Tendency to passively revert

14. Final thoughts • Excellent opportunity for data gathering as part of larger effort to document study abroad learning outcomes • Need to pool resources: www.saintmarys.edu/~iil/re-entryresources/syllabilist.html